Waterlands

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WeakfishShoulder season

Bar · New York

Picket Rock

40.86°N · 73.68°W · Bar · Long Island Sound West of New Haven CT/Port Jefferson NY

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 7 AM · Weakfish

80/100Great
Now
647 PM EDT
Best window
7 PM-12 AMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding3.4 ft ▲

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 7 PM · now

Time7PNOW
Score64Good
Tide3.4 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.8 kn · toward SE
Wind9 kn NEgusts 21 · steady
Sea stateModerate2.0 ft · 4 s
Air temp62°Mild
WeatherMostly cloudy82% cloud
Water71°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Weakfish is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with NYSDEC before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Weakfish is best here

Last week of shoulder season for Weakfish · peak season next

Weakfish season by week of the year. Last week of shoulder season for Weakfish · peak season next.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Weakfish in New York

Spot profile

Picket Rock

Depth
10-30 ftSlope
Structure
Ledge · Inner · Semi-exposedLedge · slope
Season
Shoulder seasonWeakfish

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Picket Rock

Picket Rock is a bar in Long Island Sound West of New Haven CT/Port Jefferson NY, New York. Depth is 10-30 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads ledge, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are scup, little tunny and summer flounder. It is peak season now for scup, little tunny, summer flounder and sheepshead, and shoulder season for black sea bass, bluefish, king mackerel and tautog. Scup peak from June through October. Little tunny peak from September through October. Summer flounder peak from June through September.

Tackle & technique

Weakfish
Weakfish hold along channel edges, grass beds, oyster bars and bridge shadows in bays and sounds, usually in 5 to 40 feet of water, and feed hardest at dawn, dusk and after dark. Swim soft plastics or bucktails slowly near the bottom, or drift peeler crab and bloodworms. They have soft mouths, so keep the drag light and the pressure steady.
Scup
Scup school over hard and mixed bottom, rock piles, mussel beds, piers and jetties, usually in 10 to 60 feet of water. Fish a high-low rig with small hooks and squid or clam strips on the bottom, and chum with clam to hold a school under the boat. If nothing bites within 15 minutes, move to the next piece of structure.
Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Hempstead Harbor

    Bay · 0.6 mi

    78
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 78
    • Scup 78
    • Spot 78

    9 kt NEH 10:22 PM · 7.4 ftL 4:45 AM · 0.6 ft

  • Red Spring Point

    Cape · 1.5 mi

    78
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 78
    • Scup 71
    • Spot 69

    9 kt NEH 10:22 PM · 7.4 ftL 4:45 AM · 0.6 ft

  • Mosquito Cove

    Bay · 1.4 mi

    77
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 77
    • Scup 76
    • Spot 75

    9 kt NEH 10:22 PM · 7.4 ftL 4:45 AM · 0.6 ft

  • Carpenter Point

    Cape · 1.7 mi

    72
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 72
    • Striped bass 63
    • Bluefish 62

    9 kt NEH 10:04 PM · 7.5 ftL 4:29 AM · 0.6 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with NYSDEC before you keep a fish.